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China: Triumph And Turmoil

Technology Documentary hosted by Niall Ferguson, published by Channel 4 in 2012 - English narration

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China: Triumph and Turmoil
Niall Ferguson meets the people who can explain what China stands for: from newly minted billionaires in China's megacities to the survivors of the madness of Chairman Mao; and from aggressive young nationalists hacking into our computers to the brave defenders of China's rural poor. And he answers the questions that should concern all of us: will this turn out to be the Chinese century? Should we be scared? Or will the Red Dragon crash and burn?

2) Maostalgia
Niall Ferguson asks how China manages to live under a Communist system of government but with a thriving capitalist economy The succession of revolutions orchestrated by Mao Zedong killed more people than Hitler and Stalin combined. And yet this hard-line communist and murderer of businessmen is revered in China today as the founder of a modern-day capitalist superpower. Why?. To answer this question Niall travels from Beijing to Mao's birthplace at Shaoshan to the new supercity of Chongqing and to the rural backwaters of Anhui to track down survivors of the madness of Chairman Mao, newly minted billionaires and the Mao worshippers who believe tomorrow belongs to them. He finds the way China is governed is eerily similar to the way it was under the First Emperor. All the power lies in the hands of nine men with expressionless faces and what looks like the same hair dye - as unelected and as powerful as Emperor Qin. Autocracy that values unity over choice; secrecy over openness - not democracy. That has always been the Chinese way. It is the price that China is prepared to pay for the spectre that has always haunted its leaders: protest, rebellion and turmoil.